Consumer Smartwatch May Expand Access to Obstructive Sleep Apnea Screening

Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the upper airway becomes blocked during sleep, repeatedly stopping or restricting breathing. The disorder often goes undiagnosed, leaving untreated individuals at increased risk of stroke, heart attack, depression, and motor vehicle accidents. Screening can help identify people who need diagnostic testing. A new study suggests that a consumer smartwatch may support this process by screening adults for moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea.

Researchers at Stanford University evaluated the Sleep Apnea Feature of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, which screens for obstructive sleep apnea during sleep but does not provide a diagnosis. To assess its performance, the team compared the watch’s findings with overnight sleep studies conducted at the Stanford Health Care Sleep Medicine Center.

The study included 147 adults aged 22 or older, with an average age of 54. Participants either had a prior diagnosis of moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea or were considered likely to have the condition before testing. They wore the watch for two nights during sleep studies and three nights at home. Validation examined performance across multiple nights and measures, including the apnea-hypopnea index and hypoxic burden, a measure of oxygen deprivation during sleep.

At its default setting, the watch detected moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea with 94% sensitivity and 67% specificity. Among high-risk participants with high hypoxic burden, both sensitivity and specificity reached 100%. These findings were published on August 27, 2026, in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

The results support the potential use of consumer wearables to identify people who may benefit from formal diagnostic testing, while reinforcing that screening does not replace a diagnostic evaluation. People with symptoms such as habitual snoring, gasping, or choking during sleep should seek medical assessment.

“Our findings show that consumer smartwatches can make sleep apnea screening more accessible by identifying people at risk for moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea. These devices are not diagnostic, but by bringing validated screening into something people already wear every night, we may be able to identify risk earlier and shorten the path to evaluation and to low-risk, well-established therapies such as positive airway pressure and weight management,” said Dr. Robson Capasso, principal investigator and professor of otolaryngology–head and neck surgery at Stanford University.